Choose an article from a newspaper that is the length of the poem you want to write. Cut out the article with a pair of scissors, then carefully cut out each of the words. Put all the words in a paper bag. Shake gently. Take out each word, one after the other and copy in the same order they left the poem.—Prompt #2 by Ruth Ozeki in Choices (BorderlinePress, 2015),

Ruth Ozeki adapted her prompt from “To Make a Dadaist Poem,” a chapter in Tristan Tzara’s 1920 book Dada Manifesto On Feeble Love and Bitter Love. I’m adapting her prompt as well, using a magazine, Rolling Stone because there are no newspapers in the house where I am staying. I’m extracting all the phrases that include a “D,” plus words and lines from the September 10^th, 2015 issue. To make a semplance of poetic sense, I rearranged a few words/phrases as the tumbled from the bag. I used exactly the same words except that I changed “managed” to “manages.”

A Dream You Won’t Want to Wake Up From

An end unto itself

a sustained organ chord

that builds toward a pop crescendo

that never quite comes.

Extravagant melodies bloom slowly

beckoning spooky, hazy, lovely days of candy.

a brilliant, surreal and crisp cymbal pattern.

The listener inside manages the rare trick of evoking bliss,

like it can contain entire worlds.